Rye Barcott

Rye Barcott is a social entrepreneur, investor, and the author of the memoir It Happened on the Way to War.

He co-founded the non-profit organizations Carolina for Kibera and With Honor, and the investment firm Double Time Capital.

Barcott's mother, Donna Schwartz-Barcott, is a nurse and anthropologist who teaches at the University of Rhode Island.

His father, Timothy Schwartz-Barcott, attended Miami University on a Reserve Officers' Training Corps scholarship and went on to serve in the Marine Corps' 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion during the Vietnam War.

His father left the Marines as a captain after receiving a Bronze Star Medal and a Purple Heart.

His parents met as graduate students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC).

Barcott attended East Greenwich High School.

He graduated in 2001 Phi Beta Kappa from UNC.

He attended UNC on a four-year Marine Corps NROTC scholarship.

While an undergraduate at UNC in 2001, Barcott founded Carolina for Kibera (CFK) in Kenya with Salim Mohamed and Tabitha Atieno Festo.

CFK started as a small inter-ethnic soccer program and medical clinic run out of Festo's ten-by-ten foot shack.

Today it is an affiliated entity of UNC.

Barcott is the chair of the board of CFK, whose Advisory Council included former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and includes former CDC Director Dr. William Roper and the former CEO of the Kenya Medical Association Stellah Bosire.

In 2001, Barcott co-edited with Dr. Carolyn Pumphrey Armed Conflict in Africa, a book that analyzed the sources of violence in Africa.

In 2006, he provided written testimony to the Iraq Study Group and authored an article about the Iraqi Military Intelligence Academy in Proceedings, the professional journal of the US Navy.

ABC World News with Charles Gibson covered his work in Kibera and his military service in Iraq and named him a Person of the Week and a 2006 Person of the Year.

The ABC News story quoted him encouraging young Americans to expose themselves "to how the majority of the world lives ... and I think it'll make you a lot more appreciative of what you've got ... [and] make you a better American and a better global citizen."

Barcott delivered the 2007 commencement address to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health.

Barcott graduated in 2009 with an MPA and MBA from Harvard University, where he was a Center for Public Leadership Social Entrepreneurship Fellow and George Leadership Fellow.

Harvard University President Drew Faust appointed him to a two-year term on Harvard Endowment's Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, and he served as a founding member of the movement to create an MBA Oath.

Barcott and Dan McCready co-founded Double Time Capital in 2013 as an impact investment firm focused on clean energy and sustainability.

He was elected as a member of Harvard's Alumni Association Board of Directors in 2016.

Barcott served five years on active duty in the Marine Corps, where he attained the rank of captain and deployed to Bosnia, the Horn of Africa, and Iraq.

Barcott co-founded With Honor in 2017 with David Gergen and other veterans.

With Honor is a veteran-led NGO focused on promoting and advancing principled veteran leadership in order to reduce polarization.

Its advisory board includes post-9/11 veterans, Gold Star family members, and others.

As of February 2017, "Double Time has financed 36 solar energy projects, which collectively produce roughly 10% of North Carolina's solar power and power around 30,000 homes in the state."

At that time, North Carolina was ranked second among US states based on cumulative solar installed capacity.

The firm also invested in companies offering sustainable products and services.

Prior to forming Double Time Capital, Barcott worked as a special advisor to the CEO and chairman of Duke Energy, Jim Rogers.

Barcott formed and led an investment team for the CEO that focused on renewable energy and disruptive growth opportunities.

He was also the university's 2018 commencement speaker.

As an inaugural TED fellow, he gave a speech on "The Power of Participatory Development".

He is an annual speaker at the US Marine Corps' Battles Won Academy for Semper Fidelis high school student all-Americans.

He is represented by the American Program Bureau and frequently speaks at colleges and high schools.

Barcott serves on the boards of the National Veterans Memorial and Museum, National Democratic Institute, Veterans Bridge Home, the US Institute for Peace, and the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation.

He previously served on the board of the international development organization World Learning and its accredited institution the School for International Training, and returned to its board in October 2020.

President Barack Obama appointed Barcott to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board as a representative of the veteran community.

Barcott is the author of the memoir It Happened on the Way to War (Bloomsbury Publishing).

The book's dedication to CFK cofounders Salim Mohamed and Tabitha Atieno Festo includes a phrase that captures the central theme of the book: "Talent is universal; opportunity is not."